My god.... the most amazing two hours of my life. I was priveledged enough to have gotten tickets to see Jorma with GE Smith acoustic at a tiny little venue called McCabe's Guitar Shop. There were only about forty people there, and I was with my parents and my friend in row 2. The show itself was fantastic: No Airplane songs, but many that I knew, like Big River, True Religion, The Plastic Jesus Song (title?), and Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out. I wasn't able to get the set list, but it mainly consisted of some great blues, and some folkier songs.

The highlight of the evening for me though was just after Hesitation Blues, when Jorma mentioned that he'd seen "some fourteen year old girl play the shit out of it" on youtube. Unless there's another blues-loving fourteen-year-old who happens to listen to Jorma Kaukonen, I think he was talking about me.

So then after the show, I explained first to a number of employees, and then to Jorma's manager that I was mentioned in his set... so then I got to go backstage and meet him and GE. He was very nice, and after talking about music and guitars, he told me to keep up the good work. He said once again how much he liked the video. *sigh* Sometimes I have to just hope that I didn't imagine all that. I've considered that possibility, but it seems rather unlikely...

All I have to say is that the stars were aligned juuuuust right, fortunately for me!

Here's the setlist, from Jorma's website. Evidentally, Jorma had better recollection of a U-Tube video than his friend G.E. Smith's songs - as their titles are not listed. I almost never view videos, but will try to visit yours. Very glad to hear this turned out to be such a great experience for you!

First Show:1. Been So long2. G.E.3. True Religion4. G.E.5. Let Us Get Together6. G.E.7. Things That Might Have Been8. There’s A Bright Side Somewhere9. G.E.10. Come Back Baby11. G.E.12. Hesitation Blues13. G.E.14. Encore: G.E. Empire StateSecond Show:1. Trouble In Mind2. G.E.3. River Of Time4. G.E.5. What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?6. G.E. Arrowhead7. Death Don’t Have No Mercy8. G.E.9. Cracks In The Finish10. G.E. Drink Up And Go Home11. Preaching On The Old Camp Ground12. G.E.13. How Long Blues14. G.E.15. The Terrible Operation16. Let It Rock17. Encore: Nine Pound Hammer

I saw him in SF the next Sunday. It was a great show. There were more than 40 people there, though. It's cool when you see a show with only a few people in the audience (not for the band, though ) The most intense show I ever saw was A Place to Bury Strangers and there was maybe 30 people in the room.